UConn, Yale, Quinnipiac, Sacred Heart to compete in ‘Connecticut Ice' tourney

UConn, Yale, Quinnipiac and Sacred Heart will compete each year in a multi-day men's hockey tournament broadcast on SNY, the TV network announced Monday.

The tournament will headline a weekend hockey festival called Connecticut Ice, which will also feature events for youth, prep and high school players and teams. The inaugural Connecticut Ice will take place Jan. 24-26, 2020 at Webster Bank Arena in Bridgeport.

“We are now going to have a vehicle that's going to be able to galvanize all the hockey enthusiasts in this state,” UConn coach Mike Cavanaugh said Monday. “It's gonna be a wonderful event for the state.”

Cavanaugh, Yale coach Keith Allain, Sacred Heart coach C.J. Marottolo and Quinnipiac assistant coach Bill Riga were all in attendance Monday to unveil the new festival.

“I really believe that this event will bring extraordinary energy [and] unbridled enthusiasm,” Marottolo said. “To have these four teams play at this arena in the middle of wintertime, I think you can't pick a better situation.”

SNY president Steve Raab said network executives first floated the idea of a Connecticut hockey event in early 2017 and have been building support for the concept ever since.

Although Raab warned against holding up Connecticut Ice against the 67-year-old Beanpot college hockey tournament in Boston, Cavanaugh embraced the comparison.

“They say it's not The Beanpot, but if it is that would be fantastic,” said Cavanaugh, who experienced The Beanpot as a longtime Boston College assistant. “Because I know how much the Beanpot means to the city of Boston and what it has done for college hockey up there, and if this could be anything like that for Connecticut — which I think it could be — it could be tremendous for the entire state.”

One difference between The Beanpot and Connecticut Ice is the latter event's emphasis not only on college hockey but also on lower levels of the sport.

Connecticut Ice's full 2020 itinerary includes a jamboree for 6-8 year-olds, boys and girls youth championship games, USA Hockey onice clinics and rivalry games at the prep school and high school levels.

Cavanaugh said the new event will not drastically affect his non-conference schedule, as UConn already plays Quinnipiac and Sacred Heart each year and has faced Yale as well, most recently this past November. He said he expects Connecticut Ice to help UConn's longterm recruiting efforts, as players who watched or participated in the festival reach college age.

— Hartford Courant (TNS)